Gong.



Nd. 784,382. PATENTED MAR. 7, 1905. E. s. BUGKNAM.

GONG.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 24, 19.04.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

{a 33137119 flw' Q.

PATENTED MAR. 7, 1905.

B. S. BUOKNAM.

GONG.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 24, 1904.

2 sums-sum '2.

NITED STATES Patented March 7, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

A. BRILL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

GONG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 784,382, dated. March7, 1905.

Application filed May 24, 1904. Serial No. 209,453.

all 11771117 it may concern:

Be it known that I, EZRA SANGER BUCKNAM,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Llanerch, State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inGongs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to gongs particularly adapted for railway-cars, andpertains to the 1 class of gongs adapted to be operated by one or morecords.

The objects of my invention are to produce a gong in which the action ofthe striking-lever will be quick and its return thrust facilitated andthe parts so formed that the cord or cords may be attached to the gongat a point nearest the direction from which the cord approaches insteadof being connected with the stri ker-arm and returning underneath thebell, as in former devices.

It is my further object to produce means whereby one gong may answer thepurpose of two in the present practice.

Heretofore it has been customary to have two gongs attached to the hoodat each end of the railway-car, and this has been espeeially necessaryin open street-cars, where it is necessary to have a cord running alongthe side of the car.

By means of my improved arrangement the cords on each side of the carmay both lead to a single bell at each end of the car and adapted.

to operate the gong from either side of the car.

Further advantages of my invention reside in the striking-plunger and inthe further details of construction, which will be more fullyhereinafter explained, and further set forth in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this speciiication, in which similarnumerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views, Figure l is an inverted plan view of my improved gongwith the cord arrangement detached. Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken onthe line 22 of Fig. 1 looking in the directionof the arrows. Fig. 3 isan end view of Fig. 1, taken from the right-hand end,

Fig. 4 is a similar view taken from the opposite direction with the cordmechanism removed. Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2,looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 6 is a side elevation,partly in section, showing the arrangement of'the cord mechanism. Fig. 7is a plan view of Fig. 6 with a portion of the gong cutaway. Fig. 8 isan end view of Fig. 7, and Fig. 9 is a section on the line 9 9 of Fig. 8looking in the direction of the arrows.

As the form of gong to which I have applied my improvements is commonlyused for attaching to the ceiling of a car-hood, I have illustrated itadapted to that particular use. For that purpose I have provided abracket or support 1, which may be of any suitable shape. As illustratedherein, the bracket is provided with ends 2, which may be attached tothe ceiling by means of screws or other means, and an outwardly-bentportion 3, forming a space to receive the gong.

The gong 4, which is of any desired shape, is attached to the bracket byany suitable means, such as the bolt5, which passes through the bracketand the gong in the usual manner. Near one end of the bracket I providean aperture in which the plunger 6 fits and moves therein. The novelfeature of the plunger resides in forming an enlargement? near the upperend, which holds the plunger in place in the bracket, and a narrower orpointed end 7, adapted to come in contact with the rim of the gong. Thisgives the plunger weight and at the same time a small strikingsurface.

One of the novel and important features of my invention resides in thestriking means, which,asIhaveillustratedit,consists ofastriking-lever 8,having a weighted end 9, which is preferably turned at an angle to thelever. The lever is fulcruined at any desired point, such as 10, to asupport, which I prefer to be the supporting-bracket, and so mountedthat the end 9 will be thrust in contact with this plunger 6. the upwardthrust of the lever being determined by the stop 11, which comes incontact with part of the bracket. In order that the sound of the gongwill notbe muffled by continuous metallic connection, I prefer toso-construct these parts that the stop 11 will come in contact with thebracket and stop the thrust of the lever before the plunger comes incontact with the gong, thus permitting the plunger to drop back from thegong part way before the lever returns to its former position.

In order to produce a quick and efficient means for tripping thestriking-lever, I provide a toe, such as 12, connected with the leverand whichI prefer to make integral therewith. The upper surface 13 ofsaid toe is concave and is designed to cooperate with a convex surfaceformed on the toe of a tripping-lever 14c in the manner to be described.

As herein shown, the tripping-lever 14: is fulcrumed at 15 to thebracket, and its toe 17, having the convex surface 18, overlies the toe12 of the striking-lever. The tripping-lever is provided at the end ofits short arm with an eye 16 to receive the bell-cord. The two surfaces13 and 18 on the toes of the striking and tripping levers, respectively,are constructed so as to be conjugate to each otherthat is to say, sothat they will roll upon each other in the manner of two gear-teeth inmesh without any sliding friction. The effect of this construction is tocause the point of contact of the two toes 12 and 17 to move back andforth between the pivots and of the striking and tripping levers as saidlevers swing upon their pivots. In this way the leverage of the toe ofthe tripping-lever on the toe of the striking-lever is greatest at thecommencement of the movement and the motion of the striking-lever isprogressively accelerated and reaches its maximum at the moment when thehammer 9 strikes the plunger 6.

A suitable stop, such as the piece 19, is provided, against which thetripping-toe may rest when the parts are in their normal or restingposition.

In order that the gong may be operated by a plurality of cords divergingfrom. the longitudinal direction of the hell, I provide. as shown inFigs. 6 to 9, inclusive, a means for connecting and operating theseveral cords in connection with the single trippihglever. This part ofmy invention consists in mounting one or more sheaves or rollers, suchas 20 and 21, by means of a bracket, such as 22, either to the car-hoodor, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 6, the bracket may be secured to thebracket which supports the gong. These sheaves are preferably mountedone over the other, by means of an axle 23, in the bracket, so as to bein alinement with the longitudinal direction of the gong. One or morecords,

such as 24 and 25, may be attached, by means of the single hook 26 orother suitable means, to the eye of the tripping-lever and pass inreverse directions around the sheaves, so that onecord may pass to oneside of the car, while the other passes to the opposite side, it beingunderstood that the gong is by preference mounted at about the center ofthe car transversely.

The object of the two sheaves, as it will be readily understood, is togive the striker-arm a direct pull by means of the separate cords whichdiverge in different directions and by which the cords on opposite sidesof the car are each adapted to a single gong.

For the purpose of retaining the cords in their proper place on thesheaves I provide a guard, such as 27, attached to the bracket andprovided with an inturned flange 38. The bracket passes around the cordsjust in front of the point where the latter cross after leaving thesheaves, the flange 38 serving to separate the cords from each other.

From the foregoing the advantages and operation of my invention will bereadily understood. Assuming the parts to be in the initial position,(indicated in Fig. 2,) when the arm 16 of the tripping-lever 1 1 ispulled or otherwise moved to the left the rocking surface 18 of the toe17 rocks on the curved surface 13 of the toe 12, whereby both thesurfaces 13 and 18 have a rolling contact and a downward motion. When inthe initial position of Fig. 2, the distance from the point of contactof these two surfaces to the pivot 15 is a minimum and to the pivot 10is a maximum. As the surface 18 moves downward this point of contactwith the surface 13 moves with a rolling and not a sliding movementnearer the pivot 10 and from the pivot 15 until the stop 11 impingesagainst the screw-head of the gong-fastener 5 when this movementterminates with the distance from this point of contact is a minimumwith regard to the pivot 10 and a maximum with regard to the pivot 15.As soon as the bell-cord is released the weight of the end 9 issufiicient to cause the surface 13 to raise the surface 18 with arolling motion, the point of contact of these surfaces returning with arolling movement to the initial position when the bell-crank ortripping-lever 1 1 has its toe 17 resting against the stop 19. As thedistance from the pivot 15 to the point of contact of the toes 17 and 12is a minimum when in the initial position the striking-lever 8 isstarted with a minimum eifort, and as its inertia is overcome and as thepoint of contact moves from the pivot 15 nearer to the pivot 10 thevelocity of the head or end 9 of the striking-lever8 is rapidlyaccelerated until it strikes a smart blow against the plunger 6, wherebythe gong is sounded. The weight of the end 9 is always suflicient toretrieve the bellthat is, place it in condition to ring againbecause thedistance from the pivot 10 to the point of contact of the surfaces 13and 18 is-a minimum, and these surfaces engage lubricant between thesesurfaces is unnecessary. The movement of the arm 16 is very slight,about a quarter of an inch or less in the ordinary bell, so that thebell will always ring even with the slightest pull on the cord and willalways retrieve for this and the other reasons given above, a result notobtained with any other bell. In addition to the above advantages thisbell has the additional ones of requiring no springs to retrieve thebell, as is common in the art, nor does it require any particularattention, and, furthermore, it will stand an indefinite amount of roughuse, as the wearing parts engage without friction, and the bell-cord cannever get caught by the strikinglever.

My invention is adapted for use in a gong where the plunger is omitted,it only being necessary to arrange the parts so that the lever willstrike directly against the gong.

While I have shown and described a specific means for carrying out myinvention, I do not wish it to be understood as limiting the scope ofthe annexed claims thereby, as alterations may be made Without departingfrom the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a hell or similardevice, the combination with a striking-lever comprising a hammer-armand an actuating-toe, of means to swing said striking-lever constructedand ar- -with a convex surface, said surfaces being constructed andarranged to roll on each other during the movement of said levers,whereby the distance of the point of contact of said surfaces from thepivot of each of said levers constantly varies during the movement ofsaid levers.

4. In a bell or similar device, a gong and gong-striking mechanism, apair of cords attached to said gong-striking mechanism, a pair ofsheaves on a common axis, over which sheaves said cords pass and meansfor supporting said sheaves.

Signed this 5th day of May, 1904.

EZRA S. BUUKNAM.

l/Vitnesses:

SAMUEL (J. KANE, EMILY R. KANE.

